an incident that allegedly took place on May 14, 2023, at an Outback location in Sterling — a D.C. suburb
Knowing that area, yep, Sterling checks out. So would Manassass or South Riding.
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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I'm hesitant to say this is silly. It reminds me of the McDonald's hot coffee incident.
For those unaware, in that case a woman had coffee spilled on her, and she sued saying it was "too hot". What is lesser known about it was:
- McDonalds frequently kept coffee at near boiling temperatures to keep it longer
- McDonalds had been warned numerous times that this was extremely unsafe and that it was going to hurt someone
- The woman's labia was fused shut because the coffee was so hot it melted her underwear and caused permanent scarring
- McDonalds is heavily thought to have caused the smear campaign against her to protect their image, shifting blame and making her out to be an idiot who was only looking for a payday.
- The woman was asking only for McDonalds to cover her medical bills in her lawsuit.
So jumping out ahead of this one, it seems like she's an idiot, but history tells us that corporations are very cunning and quick to blame the victim.
I'd also add:
- She was hospitalized for EIGHT DAYS
- She then had two years of medical treatment
- She was looking for $20,000 to cover medical expenses.
The $20,000 included about $10k in medical costs, a few thousand for loss of income and another few thousand for expected medical costs.
McDonalds offered... $800.
To the largest fast food company in the world they couldn't spare 20k to make amends. To them that's a less than a single employee's salary, a fraction of one of their lawyer's salaries. Absolutely pathetic
Could spare? Yes.
Would spare? This is Ray Kroc’s baby we’re talking about.
Think of the shareholders!
Well that was an effective smear campaign then ‘cause I never heard the full story! Though I guess there’s still the woman who put her dog in the microwave in order to dry its fur.
I’d only found out about it a couple of years ago. It makes one wonder what other narratives corporations were able to properly control in the past.
Although the finger-in-the-chili Wendy’s case does not help.
I feel like at the time that was not commonly known, but today it is.
I hope so, but I still encounter people (mostly boomers) who still think it was some stupid woman
I agree, it's not a silly story, in spite of the headline. I do hope that people are inspired to read it.
FWIW the rules right now don't mention criteria for articles, just for the headlines. I would be on board for stricter standards in article content, if that's what the comm wants though.
I read the article and as someone who is chronically dumb, when I slip on something I don’t fall face first. It’s more of a prat fall and I wing up on my ass.
I’m of two minds on this- a slip and fall absolutely can cause significant injuries and death- especially if your head hits, for example, the edge of a table.
Outback’s lawyers are also not denying it ever happened, and instead arguing she failed reasonable care (which is bullshit. Keep your floors clean, ya nasty assholes.)
The reason I’m somewhat skeptical is that 2 years is a long time to wait for a fairly cut and dry lawsuit. It’s possible recovery just took that long, don’t get me wrong. (Occurred in 23, lawsuit filed in 25,)
But usually if it was that bad, the corpos would be pushing for a fast settlement to limit expenses. It’s possible they were in arbitration, and that has failed, but no one really wants a drawn out process. (Except maybe her lawyer. Corpo lawyers are on retainer, so they don’t really get paid more.)
I'm afraid you have it backwards. Corporations will stall as long as possible, statistically the longer it takes to go to trial the more likely for the lawsuit to be dropped. Spending more money on lawyers is considered a better investment than paying out earlier and for a lesser amount because it sets precedent and potentially admits fault.
yeah. for the corporation, maybe. though 95% of cases all settle out of court and get dropped. Some of that is because they got dragged along. but a lot of that also is that if the corporation deems they're at fault they're going to want to settle every time... and usually try to do that before you get a lawyer telling you how much the claim is worth.
Outback is the defendant, not the plaintiff. There's not much motive for a plaintiff to delay by a year or more outside of recovering/rehab, and trying to settle out of court before filing. that said, you generally have a couple of years at most before the statute of limitations kicks in.
prior to filing a claim against them, there's not a whole lot the corpos can do to slow down a claim from being filed. It's not like you're obligated to go through arbitration, or to seek settlement before hand, or even inform them that you're doing so. (and frequently it's better to not.)
"Slip and Fall" claims are very well established already so they have plenty of information as to how the outcomes going to go, and that means they have an idea of where to put the settlement to minimize their costs. (and your lawyer will have a good idea how to maximize your gain, so, yeah. they really want you to take that lowball before you talk to one.)
well if i knew it was gonna be that kinda party…
the content is region locked
The Sterling location where the fall allegedly occurred is now permanently closed, according to the chain’s website.
Yeah, probably because they store their mashed potatoes on the floor.
F
I definitely misread that as "sipping" and got really confused for a few moments.